New Xbox 360 Price: Thank Madden

Microsoft is cutting the price of the Xbox 360, starting tomorrow. The announcement comes on the eve of one of the big events of the video game industry's year: The new version of Madden comes out next week.

The new prices on the Xbox 360 are: $280, $350 and $450. That represents price cuts of $20, $50 and $30, respectively.

Sony announced last month that it was cutting the price of the high-end version of its PlayStation 3 from $600 to $500. Meanwhile, the hot-selling Nintendo Wii still costs $250. Both consoles launched last winter

In the announcement posted at Microsoft's Xbox site, Mitch Koch, a corporate vice president of sales and marketing at the company, said the announcement was timed for the launch Madden NFL 08 on August 14.
Koch also said that the Xbox 360 console has held on to its original, launch price longer than any other game console. (The Xbox 360 console launched in November 2005.)

Microsoft recently admitted that the Xbox 360 has has some hardware problems, and expanded its warranty for the game system to three years. The company says the move will cost over $1 billion.